Beijing welcomes Olympic flame

Earlier Liu Qi, chief of China's Olympic organising committee, brought the flame to China on a specially-charted plane from Greece landing at Beijing's main airport on Monday morning before a cordoned-off crowd of flag-waving supporters.

Sporadic protests against Chinese rule in Tibet and the recent crackdown on protests in the region disrupted the flame's journey around Greece before its arrival in Beijing.

The torch relay officially starts on Tuesday in Beijing when the flame is scheduled to depart for Almaty, the capital of Kazakhstan.

The city is the first stop on an odyssey through 19 countries during April that will be followed by a three-month tour around China.

Pro-Tibet groups and other human rights groups have said they plan to hold protests along the torch relay route.

The torch is also due to pass through Lhasa, the scene of bloody riots in mid-March, and to the top of the Tibetan side of Mount Everest.

China has come under heavy pressure from the international community to moderate its crackdown on protests and to open a dialogue with the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader.

Boycott 'insulting'

Prominent nations, however, have shied away from following call from pro-Tibet groups to boycott the Olympics.

Protesters have vowed to disrupt the international leg of the torch relay [Reuters]

At the weekend Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, told The Washington Times that it would be "insulting" to the Chinese people if Washington boycotted either the opening ceremony or the Games themselves.

"I don't see the benefit of boycotting," Rice said.

Although Chinese authorities are thought to have largely locked down dissent in Tibet and surrounding regions, protesters in other parts of the world continue to demonstrate against China's rule in the Himalayan region.

In Nepal on Sunday, a group of 200 Tibetan exiles and Buddhist monks tried to storm the Chinese embassy visa office in Kathmandu but they were beaten back by police using bamboo batons.

At least 130 protesters were arrested and several injuries were reported among the demonstrators and policemen.

The protesters reached the metal gate of the fortified compound and tried to kick and push their way in.

Tibetans have protested in front of the office in the past, but this is the first time they reached the gate.

Uprising

In Tibet itself the state-controlled Tibet Daily newspaper announced that the director of the region's ethnic minority and religious affairs commission had been replaced.

He is believed to be the first political casualty of the unrest.

Activists in Tibet began rallying on March 10 to mark a failed 1959 uprising against Chinese rule.

Demonstrations erupted into widespread rioting in Lhasa and spread to neighbouring Chinese provinces.